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NPR Summary

The latest novel from Robinson, author of the celebrated "Mars Trilogy," deals with what's happened to humanity since colonizing most of the solar system. The action begins when a politician-scientist from Mercury secretly makes a disturbing discovery about how power is being consolidated among just a few planets in the system. But just as she and her colleagues decide to do something about it, a series of possible crimes undermine their cause — including the politician's death. The politician's troubled granddaughter Swan, an artist and biosphere designer, is left to deal with the consequences.